Advent of the Isopod
Apr. 25th, 2015 08:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
citrakayahBeen a month since I last wrote anything. School has been difficult, to say the least. My brain feels like it is full of fog, and doing anything not school-related that takes actual thought and willpower is hard. I could be doing worse, no question about that, but I have a good deal of inertia keeping me in place. The more I'm inactive--anywhere--the harder it is to get the ball rolling again. I'm a creature of habit, after all. And currently the habit is "crawl into bed, blow up enemy ships, and do absolutely nothing."
Which I hate.
I did get a review paper on isopods done, which was interesting to do. Had to do a lot of reading, and learned a lot as well. Among other things, I learned that Bergmann's rule has a long and checkered history, that most people think giant woodlice are cool, and that deep-sea isopods are not nearly as terrifying as old nacho cheese Doritos.
Other students in ZOOL 215 are doing their projects on feral cat colony management, the role of venom and bacteria in Komodo dragons, and turtle evolution. The first and last did fairly well, the middle one did not do enough research. I say that because in the question-and-answer session I asked about a possible test for bacteria uptake that seemed sort of obvious, and she said that that would be a good idea and someone should do that test. When I got back to my dorm, five minutes on Wikipedia linked me to a paper that had that very setup.
Despite the season, it's been cold lately, and it rained heavily today. I was caught outside at the beginning of it; I let volunteer hours slip away from me and I'm having to do a whole bunch at once. And because I'm an idiot and I suck, I missed the bus, so tried to walk over to the Science Center to volunteer. Naturally I got completely lost, but ultimately I did manage to get there... so good for me, I guess. Even if volunteering at the Science Center isn't the most pleasant task, what with all the loud children, it's something.
Formally changed majors from architecture to zoology, and have an appointment on Monday to talk about the possibility of doing field/lab work for graduate studies. I'm skeptical of my chances, given my lack of training, but it can't hurt.
Read some good books lately. The Virals series, which I've always liked, had two books I hadn't read, and some guy named Charles de Lint wrote a trilogy called Wildings which was pretty interesting. Also found some pretty... interesting... music by a person named Vertigo Fox. I usually hate the genre he works in, but the lyrics and general feel are interesting enough to overlook it.
Oh, and apparently we have MRAs on the Werelist. Granted I wouldn't expect anything different from the person who believes that plants "evolved beyond the use of brains," but still, it's rather frustrating.
Which I hate.
I did get a review paper on isopods done, which was interesting to do. Had to do a lot of reading, and learned a lot as well. Among other things, I learned that Bergmann's rule has a long and checkered history, that most people think giant woodlice are cool, and that deep-sea isopods are not nearly as terrifying as old nacho cheese Doritos.
Other students in ZOOL 215 are doing their projects on feral cat colony management, the role of venom and bacteria in Komodo dragons, and turtle evolution. The first and last did fairly well, the middle one did not do enough research. I say that because in the question-and-answer session I asked about a possible test for bacteria uptake that seemed sort of obvious, and she said that that would be a good idea and someone should do that test. When I got back to my dorm, five minutes on Wikipedia linked me to a paper that had that very setup.
Despite the season, it's been cold lately, and it rained heavily today. I was caught outside at the beginning of it; I let volunteer hours slip away from me and I'm having to do a whole bunch at once. And because I'm an idiot and I suck, I missed the bus, so tried to walk over to the Science Center to volunteer. Naturally I got completely lost, but ultimately I did manage to get there... so good for me, I guess. Even if volunteering at the Science Center isn't the most pleasant task, what with all the loud children, it's something.
Formally changed majors from architecture to zoology, and have an appointment on Monday to talk about the possibility of doing field/lab work for graduate studies. I'm skeptical of my chances, given my lack of training, but it can't hurt.
Read some good books lately. The Virals series, which I've always liked, had two books I hadn't read, and some guy named Charles de Lint wrote a trilogy called Wildings which was pretty interesting. Also found some pretty... interesting... music by a person named Vertigo Fox. I usually hate the genre he works in, but the lyrics and general feel are interesting enough to overlook it.
Oh, and apparently we have MRAs on the Werelist. Granted I wouldn't expect anything different from the person who believes that plants "evolved beyond the use of brains," but still, it's rather frustrating.
no subject
Date: 2015-04-27 05:46 pm (UTC)Hope zoology is going/goes well. Does seem like it might be a better vehicle for you to really execute the stuff you believe in, you know?
I know Herringbone left architecture for similar reasons to you, and while he's not on here much, I figured it might be nice to know that others have veered off from that field also because of ideals not matching up with how architecture is taught.
Re: Werelist MRAs - yeah, well. They were bound to come crawling out of the woodwork eventually, since I've seen more than one person occasionally react to the word "feminist" as if someone had... well, suprise-shown them a deep-see isopod up-close.
Cheers to you for fighting the good fight on there.
no subject
Date: 2015-04-27 08:18 pm (UTC)Your posts in the thread have been so level-headed and just PERFECTLY stated. There were several times I wanted to jump in and refute a point, but you nailed it so well before I even got there. I made a post for solidarity but honestly couldn't think of much to add! Kudos!
I couldn't help but make a little mention of the internalized misogyny in the thread, though. *shudder* Nothing puts me off like women talking about how frivolous other women are.
no subject
Date: 2015-04-30 04:06 am (UTC)Pretty sure it is/will. And it's good to know that I'm not the only one with basic standards. Sometimes, looking at architecture, one wonders if the rest of the world has gone mad, or if it's just oneself.
And hey, I'll have you know that MRAs are considerably less pleasant than most things infesting rotting logs.
no subject
Date: 2015-04-30 02:28 pm (UTC)Y'know, thats definitely true.
I'd forgotten since it's been a while that I've interacted with a rotting log, but thank you for the reminder.
no subject
Date: 2015-04-27 08:22 pm (UTC)I'm still excited that you're doing zoology now. I hope you enjoy it. Not the easiest field (especially when it comes to finding jobs, yikes!!) but I can't imagine myself elsewhere and I think you'll do great in it.
And yeaaaaah, that thread. Oof.
no subject
Date: 2015-05-13 12:24 pm (UTC)We also don't feel that you are an idiot or that you suck.